Brian Bradley, EVP of HSN.com, spoke this morning at Shop.org’s Online Merchandising Workshop about how the company has leveraged the challenging retail environment to serve customers in a more powerful way. Before providing examples of how the company is using mobile, social media and video – along with an emphasis on multichannel integration – Bradley walked through ways consumers have changed. Here’s what he had to say:
1) Consumers are looking for an all-access pass. “Historically, the retail paradigm was to get the customer to come to you in a physical location during set times,” Bradley said. Today, customers want to shop where they want, when they want. That’s one of the reasons why HSN’s “remote shopping” experience has been so successful – not cannibalizing sales from other channels like the call center or online, but most often creating new sales on its own.
2) A transactional relationship will not provide value, especially with women. You’ve got to provide more. In the case of HSN, “more” could be defined as, oh, 12,000 product video demonstrations on the company’s website. (Sure, you’re saying, but what’s the ROI? After a customer watches a product demonstration on the web, the conversion rate doubles, Bradley said.)
3) Shoppers are tired of “an impotence of abundance.” What does he mean? Customers have an overwhelming number of choices in shopping today but there’s also “an overwhelming lack of differentiation.” At HSN, Bradley said, the power lies in curating both distinctive and relevant products. The company’s recently-launched collection with Badgley Mischka is one example.
4) Trust and transparency is critical in today’s world. If customers trust you, they’ll buy more…but how to instill that trust? Think about consumer reviews, Bradley said. Brands like Andrew Lessman have used customer reviews to gain trust of shoppers and grow their business.
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